Friday, August 24, 2007

Arth

There are movies and there are movies. Very rarely, you'll find the kind that actually tug at your heartstrings, the kind that keep you drawing deep breaths - breaths you need to take to keep your tears from becoming audible. The kind that choke your throat and make you swallow repeatedly. Arth is that kind of movie.

J and I were quite surprised by some of the scenes, they seemed way ahead of their time. A review of the movie on rediff says that there was a long time between the completion and release of Arth as no distributor was willing to invest his money in such an experimental film. Not at all surprising. Plus the movie seems to have quite a feminist tone to it, if being independent in terms of not being in a relationship can be called feminist. Shabana Azmi finds the meaning to her life in the ending by adopting a girl. Having children was very crucial to women then, wasn't it? Even the actress played by Smita Patil, is desperate for a child. From what I hear and read, more women are finding the 'arth' to their lives by not having children at all. Can things change so much, from a movie that was unconventional even in its own times to now?

Shabana Azmi is so beautiful. The emotions that she can portray just with her eyes make you want to sigh. The lyrics of the songs are painfully evocative and every line is expressed in the actors' eyes, gestures and silences. Raj doesn't even touch her, yet his feelings are so palpable, his gestures so tender. Right from the beginning, there isn't a word that Shabana Azmi needs to speak, but he knows how she feels. The kind of man you look for, the kind who has you at hello.The characters aren't stereotypical either, Kulbhushan Kharbanda's role makes you want to take the easy road with the usual line, 'All men are egoistic b*******', but then there's KK's assistant and Raj himself, the fairer ones of the darker sex :)

And you know, you find Shabana Azmi wearing the same clothes at three different times in the movie. How often do you find that in a hindi movie, or any movie for that matter? I wonder who her stylist was, she's the very epitome of elegance. Even her dresses in Masoom were similar, exquisite shalwar khameez, sarees, delicately embroidered nightgowns. Add to this the right kind of lighting and some scenes, like the jhuki jhuki nazar song are beautiful.

I'm going to end this post now, cause I've finally got mukti from my exams. If the above words weren't enough, do watch this movie - it's just lovely.